Let’s get this out of the way right away: Both Rick Tocchet and Rod Brind’Amour deserve to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame someday.
Both played a number of outstanding years for the Flyers near the start of their careers and each went on to win a Stanley Cup with other teams.
After retirement, the two talented hockey men have gone on to enjoy success as coaches of NHL teams. Tocchet has been at the helm of Tampa Bay, Arizona, Vancouver and now the Flyers. Brind’Amour has guided the Hurricanes to the playoffs in each of his eight years behind the bench. He’s been the fastest-ever NHL coach to the 300-win mark.
Problem is, the Hockey Hall of Fame insists on keeping the two categories separate. So no matter how well one of these guys did as a player, it would have no bearing on the coaching ballot and vice versa.
Which is a shame because Tocchet’s playing career resume would appear to be borderline qualified. In a fair system, his work in coaching might put him over the top.
Tocchet enjoyed an exceptional playing tenure in the NHL, playing for the Penguins, Boston, Washington among others. He came up just short of a thousand points and three thousand penalty minutes.
However, a gambling scandal involving a number of celebrities, including Tocchet, might be the fly in the ointment. While Tocchet was disciplined by the NHL (a two-year suspension) for his alleged involvement in the activity, a cloud might still hang over his pro years when voters sit down to mark their choices.
Maybe Tocchet’s odds will be better eventually in the coaches’ voting as memories of that aforementioned issue begin to fade.
Tocchet served as an assistant coach under Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan and deserves a good chunk of credit for taking home Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
While Tocchet was not one of the finalists for this year’s Jack Adams Award (top coach) that’s partly because the honor is based only on the regular season play.
Actually, Tocchet didn’t do too bad there either. The Flyers finished dead last in the Metropolitan Division last season under outgoing coach John Tortorella. This year? Down nine points with only about two dozen games to play, the Flyers became the first NHL team ever to overcome that big a deficit that late in the season.
As for Brind’Amour, he was captain of the Hurricanes squad which won the Stanley Cup back in 2006. His strong two-way play was quite a sight and this was well into his thirties.
It should also be noted that Brind’Amour was one of the fittest guys ever to play in the NHL. He once played in 484 straight games for the Flyers until a slap shot from New Jersey defenseman Brian Rafalski broke his foot in the preseason.
Even then, Brind’Amour was determined to keep the streak going.
One morning he was sitting at his stall when several writers ambled over and asked if he was still hopeful he might be able to make it back for the the season opener.
Brind’Amour shook his head, looked down at his swollen foot and kept his commentary short.
“No,” he said. “It just won’t make it into the skate.”
Later, several players went as Brind’Aour sat at his locker. There were several brief conversations.
Asked about the content of those and whether they were offering sympathy, Brind’Amour just smiled.
“They just said better you than me,” Brind’Amour said with a chuckle.
I’ve seen both of these gentlemen play and coach since the first days of their careers. If I had a Hall of Fame vote, they would be at the top of the list for enshrinement.
Maybe some day it will happen.
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